Munich, headquarters of the Eastern Men subsidiary.

Last spring, Albert, who had traveled to Kuwait on behalf of Dongmenzi Power Generation Group to negotiate with Daniel, the largest shareholder of NB Electric and then president of NB Electric Europe, on the main engine of the power plant, hurried up to the 12th floor with a bulging briefcase, and knocked on the office door of his old boss at the signal of the vice president's secretary.

The old subordinate arrived as promised, and Feng Bilun, the top board member and executive vice president in charge of the company's energy, strategy and development, international and other related businesses, beckoned him to sit down, and said apologetically: "Albert, I'm sorry that you have to work overtime on vacation." ”

Prior to joining the Supreme Board of Directors, he served as Commercial President, Member of the Supreme Board of Directors, President and Executive Committee Member of the Power Generation Group, and is now not only Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President of the Supreme Board, but also the next Chairman of the Supreme Board and Chief Executive Officer of Dongmen AG.

The big boss got up to greet him, Albert was flattered, and hurriedly said, "Mr. Vice President, it is my honor to serve you. ”

Feng Bilun nodded slightly, pointed to the TV set with a low voice and asked, "Albert, I want to know all the information about this company, as far as I know, you know best about it in this building." ”

“…… The city of music, the mother of fairs, the charm of Leipzig! Welcome to Florence on the Elbe – Dresden! ”

An elaborate public service announcement was playing on the TV, and you don't have to look at the station sign to know that this is the German-language channel of BNB News. Because they are the only ones in the German media who go out of their way to advertise tourism for Leipzig and Dresden.

Obviously, the big boss is not asking about the company that produces this color TV. Rather, it refers to the NB Electric behind BNB News and Pan European International Travel Agency.

In fact, it's just as the big boss said. The whole Orient knows the Hong Kong company that invests in Germany best. Even three months ago. An evaluation report on NB Electrical was also submitted to the Executive Committee.

Regrettably, that assessment report did not attract the attention of the Executive Committee. But all this is expected, after all, Dongmenzi has always regarded the American CE as a great enemy! So much so that a team was formed to specialize in CE, the world's largest market capitalization and a business war with Oriental, which lasted for more than a century.

Monitor its every move, study and analyze each of its M&A transactions, investigate the share of each of its businesses in the global market, and the possible impact on Orient...... Almost all the business that can mainly affect the East Gate is to compete with CE!

However. Although Orient has made some progress in recent years, which has been reflected in the rise in its profits and share price, its profitability is still not comparable to CE's. The operating margin of CE Industrial's business in the United States was 14.8 percent, nearly three times higher than that of Oriental. The market capitalization is even more pale, equivalent to only one-sixth of the US CE.

Although Albert believes that NB Electric will be a potential competitor, he does not think that it will pose any threat to Orient in 20 years, and he can't help but ask in confusion: "Mr. Vice President, how can you be interested in NB Electric?" ”

Feng Bilun turned off the TV and said expressionlessly: "In the past three days, I have received two reports from Kuwait and Namibia. The content is all related to the company, which is less than a decade old. ”

"The Americans helped Kuwait get rid of Saddam, but NB Electric helped Kuwait advance the oil field reconstruction schedule by at least a year. I am not surprised that they are very competitive in Kuwait, and in the Middle East as a whole. ”

"But their distributor in Kuwait has neatly won the order for the electrical engineering and building automation of the Liberation Tower, dear Albert, you have been there, you should know what the Liberation Tower means to Kuwait."

Feng Bilun paused, pointed to a document in hand, and continued: "And three days ago, they just signed a general contracting contract with the Namibian government for a power plant with a total contract value of 130 million US dollars, from construction to equipment supply to personnel training, known as a 'turnkey' project. ”

Albert reacted and couldn't help blurting out, "Oh my God, they're really ready to go on the power project." ”

"There is no doubt about that," Von Bilun confirmed with great seriousness, "that Mr. Wilhelm has been in contact with them, and they have no intention of continuing to purchase from us the main equipment such as steam turbines. The Namibian government, on the other hand, does not seem to have any doubts about the ability of the Berlin industrial equipment manufacturing company to provide the corresponding services. ”

On the steam turbine generator set, providing a full set of power plant equipment, which means that NB Electric has taken a big step towards the upstream of the power equipment industry chain!

Once they have a prototype, they will be able to take the business to other markets, and power generation is one of Orient's core businesses. It is conceivable that in the future, in Africa, in the Middle East, in Southeast Asia, and even in Europe, Orient will have to face a sudden competitor.

CE in the United States, NBB in Switzerland, and one more NB Electric in the future. What's more, it is a company based in East Germany and growing under its nose.

Albert realized the seriousness of the problem, pondered for a moment, and then looked up and said: "NB Bank, it must be NB Bank that provided the funds for the construction of the power plant, so they have the absolute right to speak in the procurement of equipment. ”

The reason why Orient has not been able to compete with CE in the United States is largely related to CE's huge financial business. The German capital market is far less developed than that of the United States, which is the general environment, and Dongmenzi can't change it if he wants to.

Feng Bilun sighed secretly and said casually: "It can be seen that they are very far-sighted in terms of industrial layout. Albert, what I want to know is, what kind of company are they, what other businesses overlap with us, and what kind of impact will they have on us in the future? ”

Since the Kuwait negotiations, Albert has been closely following NB Electric's movements. Even through the Hong Kong branch and some other branches, a lot of information about NB Electric was collected and analyzed.

The vice president's secretary made it very clear on the phone. He came prepared. While opening the briefcase. "NB Electric is a very young company that was founded in 1985, but it didn't do any business when it was founded. In the second year, they launched three series of switch and socket panels with nearly 100 patents, occupying nearly 20% of the international panel market in one fell swoop......

Although the lawyers of the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement, Ximeng Electric has been devastated because of this, and it has not been able to recover until now. Of course, this has a lot to do with the strong intervention of South Korea's four-star group. But I have to admit it. They have put a lot of effort into R&D and intellectual property protection. ”

Speaking of this, Albert changed his words and said with a wry smile: "Perhaps in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Western Union, we made a decision that now seems very wrong, in exchange for Berlin's waste incineration equipment orders and switch panel patents, and watched them take root in East Germany." ”

Now is not the time to hold accountable, and this responsibility cannot be pursued.

After all, it was the subsidiary under the responsibility of another vice president who proposed the cooperation, and it was the previous executive committee that made the decision. Moreover, the political environment at the time. It was decided that even if Dongmenzi did not support it, they would take advantage of the time lag between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the formal reunification of the two Germanys to cook raw rice.

Feng Bilun was silent. Albert realized that this was a bit too much, and hurriedly continued: "The low-voltage electrical appliance business followed closely behind, using the channel of switch panels to quickly promote it on a global scale. This strategy has proven to be very successful, gaining a place in the most competitive field.

According to incomplete statistics, the conventional products of NB electrical appliances occupy more than 6% of the market share in Germany and as high as 11% in the European Community. It is worth mentioning that they did not advertise much during this period, just using their original sales channels, excellent quality and near-perfect industrial design. ”

This is all the affairs of the medium and low voltage group, Feng Bilun, who has been in charge of the power generation group before, did not understand, and asked with his chin: "How much do we occupy?" ”

"More than 50 percent," Albert paused, adding: "Statistically, they don't pose a threat to us in this business, but they have taken some share from Spanish and Japanese manufacturers." ”

Low-voltage electrical appliances have no technical content, and the reason why the share can be maintained is largely related to the consumption concept in Germany. As NB Electric takes root in East Germany, they will gradually become "corporate citizens" of Germany, and as long as NB Electric's products are produced in which country, they will be slowly accepted by the Germans.

Now can grab the share of Spanish and Japanese manufacturers, and in the future, it can also grab the share of Dongmenzi, as the future CEO of the company, Feng Bilun has this sense of crisis, but low-voltage electrical appliances are only one of the many businesses, not even the core business, he nodded casually, urged: "Go on." ”

"The electrical package is the third business of NB Electric, with two factories in China and Vietnam. Not long ago, the company officially launched the listing process in Hong Kong, and from the documents submitted, it seems that they will set up six more branches around the world, including Germany.

The transformer company is very small, only 220 kV so far, but it is very profitable due to the low production costs in Vietnam and the huge demand in Southeast Asia and the Gulf countries. There are signs that they are looking to develop in the direction of ultra-high voltage, after all, the factory is in Vietnam, and Vietnam has a demand for 550 kV transformers. ”

Low-voltage electrical appliances, high-voltage and low-voltage complete sets, power transformers, and now power projects, a copy of the entire NBB, Feng Bilun suddenly frowned.

"Unlike us, their NB Appliances, including the high-voltage appliances business, did not form a separate company. In the past year, they have made many breakthroughs in the research and development of high-voltage circuit breakers, high-voltage transformers and other high-voltage components. If you need, I can leave you a copy of the latest NB Industrial Appliance Selection Catalog. ”

"So, they want to build a complete industrial chain?"

"Think so."

Albert focused his head, pointed to the stack of Arabic product materials he had just taken out, and explained: "Busbars, bridges, wires and cables, high-voltage porcelain bottles, as long as they need power transmission and distribution, they can provide almost everything." Although they do not have a dedicated factory, they must be manufactured by affiliated companies. ”

In Feng Bilun's view, the current situation of Dongmenzi is very bad. In the electronics industry, it is lagging behind its largest competitor, CE in the United States. Other businesses are extremely bloated.

Listen to the introduction of the old subordinate. He has strengthened his determination to focus on the development of his core business after becoming CEO. For example, selling off departments that do not have a competitive advantage and making significant layoffs. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh: "The current Dongmenzi is like an oil tanker, although it has a fixed direction, it is not flexible enough. ”

Albert echoed thoughtfully: "Mr. Vice President, I think so too. Especially after carefully studying NB Electric, although they have a lot of business, they are very flexible in their actions, like a speedboat formation. ”

"Very flexible?"

"Yes, sir, although their investments are very extensive."

"Like BNB News?"

"BNB News has been very successful, especially in Germany, where there is a general lack of new ideas for TV programmes, and audiences have lost interest in the 'hodgepodge' of integrated TV channels. They are unique in that they focus on providing the most timely news to their viewers, including several of their newspapers and publications. Eye-popping results have been achieved in the shortest possible time. ”

Albert took a deep breath and continued, "But I appreciate NB Aviation more. Although there are only four airliners in operation, they can make a splash in that remote place. ”

Feng Bilun asked suspiciously: "Profitable?" ”

"It's very profitable, but it's not in the passenger business."

Albert shifted his ass and explained slowly: "Its main profit comes from flight training and aircraft recycling, not to mention flight training, from which Lufthansa and Air France just brought in a group of East German pilots a month ago. I'm talking about aircraft recycling, because it's a business that no one could have imagined. ”

"Fighter engine converted into turbojet firefighting equipment?"

"That was before, probably inspired by that conversion, and they just launched a scrapping business for civil airliners and freighters last year. As you know, there are nearly 20,000 civil airliners flying back and forth in the world every day, and with the continuous emergence of a new generation of passenger aircraft, civil aviation aircraft are in a process of continuous upgrading, and at the same time ushered in a peak period of aircraft scrapping.

Building an airplane is a high-tech project that takes countless workers to build, assemble, and send to the sky in factories all over the world. But disassembling an airplane is much easier. And at the Leipzig base of the former East German Air Force, a complete passenger plane can be dismantled into pieces of aluminum the size of a door panel in just a month by a few technicians. ”

Looking at the big boss's incredulous face, Albert continued: "60% of the resources on a passenger plane can be recycled for secondary use. The main resource available for recycling on aircraft is scrap metal, and the most valuable metal is the steel used to make the landing gear and wing girders, as well as the joint parts.

These steels are high-performance steels that meet aviation standards, and they use electromagnets to pick up the steel from the mass of scrap and sell it to the steel mills for refurnace, which is a very environmentally friendly and profitable method of making new steel, saving two tons of iron ore and 640 kilograms of coal for every ton of scrap smelted.

In addition, the aluminum skin, which is used in large quantities on aircraft, also has a high recycling value and is one of the key points of recycling.

At the same time, they are also engaged in the sale of second-hand aviation equipment, reselling the engines, avionics and electromechanical equipment, landing gear, fuel pumps, etc. An airplane landing gear can sell for $1 million, and an engine can sell for $6 million. And buying a scrapped Airbus A310 from an airline costs only $2.6 million. ”

Feng Bilun's eyes lit up, and he immediately said: "The inflow of substandard aviation equipment into the market will inevitably bring hidden dangers to aviation safety. And dismantling the aircraft will also have an impact on Leipzig's environment. ”

There is no doubt that the future big boss wants to take advantage of this opportunity to fight back against NB Electric, which is quietly encroaching on the power generation and transmission and distribution equipment market of Dongmenzi.

Albert also thought that it was one thing to think about it, and it was another thing to be able to do it.

He shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Mr. Vice President, they have already thought of what we can think of." First of all, they did not sell substandard aviation products to airlines and aviation equipment dealers, but to an American company in the name of selling non-metals, which is legally and morally blameless.

As for environmental protection, they did not directly use shoveling and dismantling like the American aircraft recycling company, but used high-speed waterjet to decompose. This has the advantage of avoiding the formation of metal chips. In addition, the site where the aircraft is parked is made of solid cement to prevent all kinds of harmful liquids leaked from the aircraft from seeping into the ground.

Environmental authorities and associations have evaluated this and not only do not think it will have an impact on the environment, but even think that it has a positive impact on environmental protection. More importantly, they will provide jobs and tax revenue to Leipzig County. ”

So investment, Feng Bilun didn't believe that all the businesses of NB Electric were profitable and impeccable, and after thinking about it, he said lightly: "In addition to power equipment, finance, news media and aviation, what other businesses do they have?" ”

"NB Instrumentation in Berlin, the Pan-European International Travel Agency, which was formed just last year, and some IT-related businesses. Instrumentation is likely to have some impact on us, because its precision and industrial design are impeccable, and there is a market in the Gulf countries, in Eastern Europe, and even in the United States;

The pan-European travel agency, which is supported by the state government of Saxony and the municipalities of Dresden and Leipzig, is also doing very well. As for the IT business invested in Russia, the corresponding products have not yet been launched at this stage. But I have reason to believe that the St. Petersburg NB Software Development Company and the Moscow NB Computer Security Technology Company will also become new profit growth points for NB Electric. ”

Albert seemed to think of something again, took a small sip of the coffee handed by the secretary, and added with great seriousness: "Although it will have some impact on our business, it seems to me that none of this is a problem, at least not for a short time." The key is the large number of affiliated enterprises that they have supported through NB Bank and NB Lab Berlin.

Mr. Vice President, you may not believe it, but there are more than 300 of them to date. More than 100 workers, as few as a few, most of them are engaged in the processing business, producing some inconspicuous spare parts, and some can even manufacture some machinery and equipment such as cigarette machines, textile machines and CNC machine tools, as small and micro enterprises in West Germany do.

The production processes of East Germany, the semiconductor technology of Asia, their capital and management experience, once all integrated, will inevitably develop into larger equipment. For example, it is involved in large centrifugal compressors, high-voltage motors, or rail business. ”

Large natural gas compressors, CE in the United States occupies the vast majority of the market share; large-scale ethylene compressors, with Dongmenzi accounting for one-third; For large-scale air separation compressors, Dongmenzi occupies half of the global market. The same goes for high-voltage motors, not to mention the rail business, which is one of the core businesses of Oriental.

NB Electric has built a grid automation system in Kuwait, and its subsidiary NB Power is transforming the Leipzig power grid. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it invested heavily in the IT business in Russia, and Ansoft, which invested in China, has software talents no less than those of Dongmen in software development.

If you can do grid automation and building automation, you can do traffic signaling.

There are so many affiliated companies in East Germany, as long as there is enough capital, it is possible to recruit more and more East German talents. Like steam turbine generator sets, they were able to develop more advanced rail transit technology on the basis of the technology of the former East Germany.

What is frustrating is that the federal government treats small and micro enterprises the same as Kang Caien, and there is no superiority. In time, they will be able to develop.

Six years can it develop into what it is now, and what if you give it another ten or twenty years?

Thinking of this, Feng Bilun gasped, and was silent for a while before asking solemnly: "Albert, I need NB electrical information, the more detailed the better, I want to know what they will do next." ”

"Mr. Vice President, I am very willing to serve you, but this job is far from my ability alone."

"Manpower is not a problem, nor is the budget, I officially authorize you to form a team to study NB Electrical as you would CE!" (To be continued......)